Conversations
by Ace Trainer Ritchie
Summary: [Written for the WA Random Opener Challenge] Junpei was always alone, untill a certain hot head entered his life.


_All right, maybe it wasn't the best way to start off a conversation, _Takuya thought, biting his lip as Junpei sighed. The poor kid was on watch for the entire night, claiming that he could do it, as he's pulled off all nighters before. It was just Takuya and Kouji who were taking turns. Kouji already had his turn, so now it was Takuya's turn, so to pass the time he started a conversation the only way he knew how - "Kouji's _such _an asshole."

"And here I thought both of you wanted to be my friend, but no, you both start off complaining about the other."

Takuya winced. It was partly because he knew how bad of a conversation starter he was, but also mostly because he didn't even think to consider Junpei's feelings. All the while he was _trying _to be a better person.

But stupidly, all that came out was "Kouji complained about me?"

Another sigh.

"Just forget it."

Takuya raised his arm, held an awkward pause before finally patting Junpei on the back. "I'm sorry, my soccer coach told me this. It's always about me and what I want, never about the other person."

"So you're aware?"

"I guess? I'm just repeating what he said, I don't actually really know what it means."

"Kouji did say you were an idiot."

"He said _what_?"

"Quiet down, the others are sleeping!"

With a sigh coming from _him _for once, Takuya placed his hands on his lap, trying to calm down.

Some time had passed, with the two of them in complete silence. The only interaction they had was Junpei patting Takuya's back and offering him a chocolate bar from his infinite stash.

"So what about you?" Takuya said, asking the only logical question he had in his mind. "How do you feel about all of this?"

"It's better than home, that's for sure."

"Yeah same."

"Home… was loneliness."

Takuya froze. He wasn't expecting that. Junpei always took such good care of Tomoki and always managed to calm down his and Kouji's fights. Heck, Takuya just agreed because he hated _not _being the center of attention. Back at home, his brother Shinya got everything. Here though? Here, he got nearly everything. Takuya got his spirit first which gained him attention. Attention he so desperately craved.

And yet here was Junpei, quiet, and alone.

"Huh?"

"I never had any actual friends. They all loved me because I gave them food. 'Junpei, can I have another candy bar? Junpei, I'm feeling sad, got any chocolate?' But they never talked to me about their feelings. No one wanted to confide in me, and in turn I had no one to confide in. Once it was raining and they offered to walk me home, and I stood outside in the rain for fifteen minutes before I saw them walk home together."

"That's not…" He couldn't finish the sentence. _That's not very nice_, Takuya was going to say. Of course it wasn't. It wasn't nice. It was obviously _not _nice. How stupid could he be?

"Not nice? I know. It was torture. Every day I'd see people who claim to be my friends, and every day they never said hi to me. They only wanted me when they needed me."

"Well, you got us now, so don't worry about it!" Since that was the most cliched thing he could think of.

Junpei turned around to stare at him.

"I hope this adventure never ends."

* * *

"Junpei, Junpei wake up."

It's been, well, he wasn't exactly sure on the time. Digital World time made no sense to him, it felt like one continuous day to him. But that day had multiple cycles already, and if memory served him correctly, he was fighting the last evil Legendary Warrior. The last one, before it sucked them all in like a vortex. Definitely not Digimon. Although, he was human, who was he to judge?

Groggily, Junpei opened his eyes, seeing that he was in some kind of a ring with his own evolved form in view. Well, in whatever view that wasn't obscured by Takuya.

The fire child.

"I'm up I'm up," Junpei said, trying to pick himself up, but failing. He waited for Takuya to extend a hand, but he didn't. With a squint, Junpei responded. "Mind helping me up?"

"Why should I help you?"

"Because, we're friends?" He hoped that was the right answer. That had to be the right answer. Ever since that day, despite having a terrible migraine from staying up for too long, Takuya's always been there for him. True to his word, no matter how cliched they were. Which Junpei was glad for, because those were the words he needed to hear.

"Since when?"

This wasn't Takuya.

Or it very easily could be. Junpei didn't know. He knew that Takuya was a fickle friend. He could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. One day he could act like a big brother, the next a crazed murder…

Thankfully, the latter was less common, but Junpei stopped trusting him as much ever since that happened.

"You asked who died and made me leader. Doesn't sound like we're on friendly terms."

Junpei grunted. "I said that, I know. But you were being stupid. And you told us, point out any time you act stupid."

Straining his head to get a better view, he realized his evolved form was nowhere to be found. Which was _bad_.

"I never said that."

"After the Tomoki incident. You said that."

"Liar! Junpei is a liar!" The false Takuya yelled, turning his back to Junpei. With a sigh, Junpei picked himself back up and placed his hand on the phony.

"Am I a liar? Or are you a liar?" Which got Takuya to turn around with this nasty look on his face. It was a sneer for sure, a sneer that was uncalled for.

"Junpei, what are you saying? You know out of the entire group you provide absolutely nothing? Actually no, that's a lie. You provide us with a person to strive to be better than."

No, that had to be false. He was the one who saved them all from being _trapped _in an underwater _ocean_.

But that was it. That was all he could remember.

"I'm not useless!" he counteracted, despite knowing full well there was some truth to Takuya's statement.

"But you are."

Takuya, for once in his life, hugged him. But it wasn't a good hug. It was smoldering. It was like embracing fire. Takuya never felt like that before; Junpei had giving him high fives before and it was _never _like this.

Then it clicked, it wasn't _like_ hugging fire, it was fire. This Takuya was made out of flames. Junpei could see the smoke rising, feel his flesh burn. But Takuya stayed the same.

He never changed forms.

"_Junpei_!"

And the fire stopped. There were scorch marks on Junpei's blue jumper, but that was the least of his problems. No, the Fake Takuya sneered at the person behind Junpei.

The real Takuya.

"Don't listen to him, Junpei! It's a figment of your imagination! Nothing he says is the truth!"

"Don't listen to that liar, I'm the Takuya you know. And you are alone. No one cares, nor will anyone miss you."

Junpei simply wound up his fist and punched the Faker in the face, who then disappeared suddenly into flames.

"Jesus, he was just fire."

"He's a hot head, like you. But not my hot head."

Takuya smiled. "Yeah, anyways, you should get out of here, they'll try to pull more mind games like that."

"What about you?"

"I'm good, I still gotta deal with the rest. I'm the leader, it's my job to make sure my team is safe."

* * *

It was the year anniversary of their meeting, of their crazy adventure, of everything. And the first two who showed up to the meeting place early were him and Takuya.

Takuya smiled at Junpei, who returned the smile back.

"So Kouji, he's always late."

"That's a terrible way to start a conversation," Junpei said with a laugh. The two turned into a fit of laughter.

Terrible ways of starting conversations were how they were friends.


End file.
